Finley Milligan: Da-da-da-da

I am 9 Months Old Today!

This isn't the best picture of my outfit, but its pretty much my business casual look

On my 9 month birthday I had coffee with Isabelle - Mommy said she is my best friend and we have known each other our WHOLE lives

Here I am meeting my Aunt CC - Uncle Carl came too, I met them at the airport

July 9^th Finley said her first word….da-da. Da-da-da-da-da. Yes, it probably just is a sound because she doesn’t know what she is saying, but it sure is fun to hear her talk! So I am going to say Da-da is her first word.

We have been in our house for a little over a month and Finley has been so lucky to have her Gigi, her Grandpa Ron and her Grandma Jane all visit. Finley might just be the most loved little girl that I know. Finley loves to spend time with her grandparents she charms them with her smiles and constant giggles.

This past weekend Finley had her first swim lesson with Miss Ellie. The swim lesson was on a Saturday so she could swim with her Daddy. Finley loves the water and did great with her lesson. We had to dunk her under the water and also had to pass her back and forth between Miss Ellie, Mommy and Daddy with her lips under the water. Finley did not mind being dunked under water; she is such a brave little girl! The first bath that she took after swim lessons she put her mouth right in the water to blow bubbles. I think that she is going to love swimming.

Finley has mastered crawling and proves to be very fast. They say the little ones are the fast ones! We had to have gates installed on our stairs to prevent exploration up and down the stairs, as you might imagine, stairs are very very interesting. She has also learned how to open and shut doors and boy is that fun. Open, close, open, close, the shower door and her closet door are her two favorites.

Finley is eating all sorts of new foods which is a lot of fun for her Mom and Dad. We offer her a little bit of whatever we are eating. Yesterday she had goat cheese bruschetta she loves tomatoes! She also loves yogurt and these tiny little cereal bars, they are so cute my heart skips a beat every time I open the itty bitty package. Puffs however are her favorite, I think that if it were up to her she would exist on puffs alone. We have been working on drinking out of a straw and a sippy cup, practice is going to make perfect on those two tasks.

The highlight of Finley’s week is her music class. She loves to make music with Miss Lizzy. Finley is very independent in class and will craw and explore without any fear at all. She also loves to play with other children. She likes big kids and little kids all the same. She has a favorite friend Liam in music class, Liam is very handsome and Finley goes straight for him every time she spots him. This past week Grandma Jane took Finley to music. Miss Lizzy was performing with a scarf and when she was done Finley clapped with delight. Oh yes, clapping is also a favorite activity. She has discovered that if she claps just right she can make a really loud sound with her hands.

She is cutting her third tooth on the bottom, no top teeth just yet. She is very proud of her teeth and will be happy to show them to anyone who cares to give her a smile.

It has been a rainy week in Houston, Daddy is in NYC, so Grandma Jane, Finley and spent the afternoon at the Childrens Museum. We capped off our visit with a little Chic-fil-A. Finley loved her first chicken nugget dipped in BBQ sauce – yum!